Investment Analysis Tool
1. Introduction:
With the advent of modern technology, in order to provide quality eye care the hospitals
are forced to purchase several equipments. Purchasing of equipments not only involves
capital cost of the equipment but also the cost for supporting facilities like airconditioning, special foundations and construction. It also involves some recurring costs
like salaries to technicians, annual service contract charges, cost of spares, consumables,
interest and depreciation charges. Due to all these costs many of the charity hospitals
find it difficult to invest in new technology. In this context, the hospitals face a situation
as to how to mobilize resources (money) to procure the necessary equipments and also
whether to charge patients and if so what would be the amount they would charge?
This tool have been particularly tailor made to analyse the procurement of the following
equipments
1) Phaco Emulsification
2) Yag laser
2. With this tool you can:
▫ Find the pay back period for the equipment based on the workload and charges
▫ Find the Profitability & feasibility of purchasing a equipment
▫ Estimate the annual patient load required to pay back the loan in a given period of
time (1year, 2 year, etc)? Or estimate how many patients should the hospital mobilize
to effectively utilise the procured equipment?
▫ Estimate the price/charge for the patients? Whether to charge at the market price or
based on the actual cost (cost analysis)?
3. Description:
The Investment Analysis Tool [IAT] is a simple and straightforward pair of financial
spreadsheets that can facilitate, streamline, and perhaps even standardize the capital
budgeting process.
The IAT evaluates the attractiveness of a potential investment by analyzing its associated
cash flows [i.e. inflows and outflows]. A user need only enter a few key variables
regarding the investment and the spreadsheet automatically analyzes its attractiveness.
Three traditional investment appraisal methods are used by the IAT. They include:
 Pay-back Period
 Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
 NPV
Included in the IAT are three spreadsheets. They are named:
1) Phaco
2) Yag
3) IAT
The Phaco & Yag worksheets are used to calculate workings for each machine
respectively. The IAT worksheet will give the appraisal for the selected equipment.
The worksheet does the projection of future cash flows automatically for the life of the
investment [i.e. investment analysis period].
4. Indented User:
1) Any hospital planning to purchase Phaco/yag.
2) Funding agencies to support the capital purchases.
3) Individuals and private practitioners
4) Consultants involved in resource mobilization and utilization for eye care delivery
5. Limitations:
Since the IAT relies on cash flows in order to conduct its analysis, all potential uses of
the IAT require a stream of cash flows including:
- Initial investment
- Additional revenue
- Additional costs
All cash flows should be based on solid analysis; if they are not, the integrity and
accuracy of the investment analysis at high risk.
II. INSTRUCTIONS
In order to use the Tool you will have to input data only on the yellow color shaded
area.
The other areas are protected areas which contains formula.
A) Worksheet—IAT PHACO
I) INPUTS
Investments
1) Initial investment: Amount invested on Day 1. Provide the cost of the equipment,
ancillary equipments, other contingencies such as space, furnishing, etc and
provision for working capital such as spares & supplies.
2) Depreciable life: time over which asset (i.e. investment) is depreciated
Annual Cash Flows
1. Recurring Costs: The cost has been classified as fixed cost and variable cost.
Input the annual fixed cost relating to the phaco machine/surgery such as
manpower, insurance, maintenance, electricity cost. Then input the variable cost
(cost of consumable & other supplies) for one surgery.
If you feel the cost will increase each year due to inflation you can input a fixed
percentage for both variable and fixed cost.
2. Estimated additional revenue: incremental revenue generated by the new
investment. To calculate the revenue the workload has to be estimated. With
respect to the phaco surgery first the hospital should be doing some paying
surgery and to all the paying patients the hospital should be doing IOL surgery
and only on those patients we can expect to attract some patients for Phaco
surgery.
So first input the total cataract surgery performed by the hospital. Then provide
the paying patients percentage and the percentage of IOL surgery performed and
then estimate the percentage of patients who would opt for phaco surgery. These
steps will automatically give you the no. of phaco surgery to be performed. If you
are not satisfied with the workload you can modify the percentages to arrive at the
expected no. of phaco surgery
In order to project an increase in workload each year you can input a fixed
percentage in the annual growth rate cell.
Input the charges for the surgery and provide the percentage of increase in
charges each year.
B) Worksheet—IAT Yag
I) INPUTS
Investments
1. Initial investment: amount invested on Day 1. Provide the cost of the equipment,
ancillary equipments, other contingencies such as space, furnishing, etc and
provision for working capital such as spares & supplies.
2. Depreciable life: time over which asset (i.e. investment) is depreciated
Annual Cash Flows
1. Recurring Costs: The cost has been classified as fixed cost and variable cost.
Input the annual fixed cost relating to the yag laser/procedure such as manpower,
insurance, maintenance, electricity cost. Then input the variable cost (cost of
consumable & other supplies) for one procedure.
If you feel the cost will increase each year due to inflation you can input a fixed
percentage for both variable and fixed cost.
2. Estimated additional revenue: incremental revenue generated by the new
investment. To calculate the revenue the workload has to be estimated. With
respect to the Yag laser first the hospital should be doing IOL surgery and then
can estimate a percentage of IOL surgery who may require yag procedure and can
also predict referral patients.
So first input the total cataract surgery with IOL performed by the hospital. Then
provide the percentage of operated patients who might require yag laser. Then
input the annual no. of patients that will be referred by other practitioners.
In order to project an increase in workload each year you can input a fixed
percentage in the annual growth rate cell.
Input the charges for the procedure and provide the percentage of increase in
charges each year.
C) Worksheet—IAT Cash flow
I) INPUTS
Selection of the equipment:
In the box next to Investment Decision for, type Phaco or yag depending upon the
equipment you are planning. If you want to compare both the equipments, then fill in
both the IAT Phaco & IAT Yag worksheet and changing the name of the equipment will
automatically show the cash for the concern equipments.
Financing, Taxes, & Analysis
1) Loan Amount: Input the loan amount as a percentage to the capital amount
invested. Interest expense is based on this loan amount. Loans are assumed to
continue into perpetuity. That means, the principal is not paid off during the
period of evaluation. e.g. A $50,000 loan borrowed at 10% will generate a $5,000
interest expense annually for the entire life of the investment
2) Borrowing interest rate: Interest rate charged for loans. Applied to the cumulative
loan amount
3) Tax rate: marginal tax rate for organization
4) Discount rate: refer to section III. Review of Investment Appraisal Method
II) CASH FLOW PROJECTIONS
This section is where the worksheet creates the cash flows. It automatically projects the
future cash flows. Additionally, it calculates annual figures for:
 Depreciation: based on the initial investment amount and depreciable life
inputs
 Interest expense: based on the initial investment amount and the interest rate
 Taxes: based on tax rate and taxable income (if applicable)
All cash flows are stated in year-end terms. Year 0 is today. Year 1 is the end of the first
year. Year 2 is the end of the second, and so on.
All investment analyses are conducted on these data.
IV. REVIEW OF INVESTMENT APRAISAL METHODS1
This review is intended as a quick tutorial on the three traditional methods of investment
analysis utilized by the IAT. These methods can be group in the following way:
1. Pay-back Period Method
2. Discounted Cash Flow Method
a. Net Present Value (NPV)
b.Internal Rate of Return
Payback Period Method
a). General Payback Period Formula
The term pack-back refers to the period of time in which a project (i.e. investment)
generates the necessary cash flow to recoup the initial investment amount. In its simplest
form it is calculated as follows:
Payback Period = Initial Investment / Annual Cash Inflow
A Payback period is typically expressed in years and fractions of years. However it can
be used for anytime unit of time so desired, if all the cash flows are expressed in the same
fashion. The IAT calculates payback in years and fractions of years.
Annual Cash Inflow is net cash inflow. This means it takes into account all cash flows,
including positive (e.g. additional revenue), and negative cash flows (e.g. additional
costs), as well as cash flows due to investment financing (e.g. interest) and taxation (e.g.
taxes). This requires reaching a net income figure for the project and then adding back
non-cash expenses such as deprecation.
Example: Firm A borrows $10,000 at 5% and invests it in machine X with a useful life of
5 years. Machine X generates additional revenue of $5000/year and additional costs of
$1,000/year. Firm A’s tax rate is 30%. The annual cash inflow and payback period are
calculated as follows:
Additional revenue
$ 5,000
Additional costs
$ 1,000
Operating revenue2
$ 4,000
Depreciation
$ 2,000
EBIT3
$ 2,000
Interest
$ 500
Taxable Income
$ 1,500
Taxes at 30%
$ 450
Net Income
$ 1,050
+ Depreciation
$ 2,000
Net Annual Cash Inflow
$ 3,050
Pay-back Period = $10,000 / $3,050 = 3.3 years
1
Dr. S.N. Maheshwari, Financial Management: Principle and Practice, 4th edition, Sultan Chand & Sons,
pg D.168-188, 1995.
2
Aldo called EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, & Amortization)
3
Earnings Before Interest & Taxes
b) Uneven Cash Flows
Investments with even cash flows like the example above are rare. Often a project’s net
cash flows vary from month-to-month and year-to-year. In such cases, cumulative cash
flows should be calculated and by interpolation, the exact payback period can be
determined. This is the method used by the worksheet, Manual, in the IAT4.
Example: Assume a project requires an initial investment of $20,000 and generates
annual cash inflows for 5 years of $6,000, $8,000, $5,000, $4,000, and $4,000
respectively. The payback period would be calculated as follows5:
Year
1
2
3
4
5
Cash Inflows Cumulative Cash Inflows
$ 6,000
$ 6,000
8,000
14,000
5,000
19,000
4,000
23,000
4,000
27,000
In three years $19,000 of the original investment of $20,000 has been recovered.
Therefore $1,000 remains. In year 4, $4,000 is generated. Thus the payback period can
be calculated as follows:
Payback period = 3 years + $1,000 / $4,000 = 3.25 years
Discounted Cash Flow Methods
a) Note on Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Analysis
DCF is generally accepted as a far better tool for appraising investments than the payback
period method. It takes into account the time value of money and the return required for
an investment’s level of risk. The three main stages of DCF are:
1) Calculation (i.e. projection) of Free Cash Flows (cash flows after taxes but before
non-cash expenses)
2) Discounting the cash flows back to present using a discount factor
3) Summing all discounted cash flow and comparing these present value sums
between investments
b) Net Present Value (NPV)
This method discounts future cash flows at an appropriate rate of return (i.e. discount
rate) commensurate with the investment’s risk level. The present values of these cash
flows are summed up, including the original investment cash outflow, resulting in a Net
Present Value figure.
Positive NPV’s are profitable investment ventures while negative NPV’s are money
losers. Therefore a simple rule of thumb for accepting or rejecting an investment is:
4
5
This simulates this second method through s serious of steps and algorithms.
Example from Financial Management, pg. D.169-D.170
Condition
NPV > 0
NPV < 0
Recommendation
Accept investment proposal
Reject investment proposal
The generic NPV formula is:
NPV = [ C0 + C1/(1+r) + C2/(1+r)2 + C3/(1+r)3 + … + Cn/(1+r)n ]
C0 = Initial investment
Cn = Annual cash flow
r = Discount rate
Discount rate: The interest rate at which cash flows are discounted back to their present
value. It should reflect an investment’s level of risk. Often an investor will use its cost
of capital as the discount rate. Additionally, if the investment is truly risk-free then the
risk-free rate, often a long-term US Treasury bill/bond (e.g. 10-year or 30-year) can be
used.
Example: Firm A is considering the purchases of a new machine. It has a choice
between Machine X and Y, requiring an initial investment of $40,000 and $20,000
respectively. The FCF (i.e. earnings after taxes + non-chases expenses) generated by
each investment are:
Year Machine A
1
$ 20,000
2
50,000
3
100,000
4
200,000
5
170,000
Total $540,000
Machine B
$ 50,000
120,000
150,000
100,000
80,000
$500,000
The company uses a 10% discount rate (i.e. cost of capital). The discount factors for
each year are:
Year
1
2
3
4
5
Discount Factor at 10%
0.91
=
0.83
=
0.75
=
0.68
=
0.62
=
Discount Factor Equation
1 / (1+.1)
1 / (1+.1)2
1 / (1+.1)3
1 / (1+.1)4
1 / (1+.1)5
The NPV of each investment is calculated by adding up all the discounted cash flows,
including the initial investment cash outflow:
Year DCF Machine A
0
$ -40,000
1
18,200
2
41,500
3
75,000
4
136,000
5
105,400
NPV $336,100
DCF Machine B
$ -20,000
45,500
99,600
112,500
68,000
49,600
$355,200
The last step is to compare the NPVs of each investment. After doing this, one can see
Machine B is preferable to Machine A since it has a larger NPV. This is the case even
though Machine A’s cash flow is more than machine B.
c) Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
Simply put, IRR is the discount rate at which the NPV of an investment equals zero. It
can be calculated if all cash flows are known by setting the NPV of the investment to
zero and then solving for r (i.e. IRR), such as in the following equation:
NPV = 0 = [ C0 + C1/(1+r) + C2/(1+r)2 + C3/(1+r)3 + … + Cn/(1+r)n ]
C0 = Initial investment
Cn = Annual cash flow
r = IRR
Investment Decision: IRR is the maximum interest rate an investor can pay for capital
invested in a project. Thus the following investment rule of thumb:
IRR > Cost of Capital = Accept project
IRR < Cost of capital = Reject project.
When comparing two projects, the higher IRR project is preferred—the higher IRR, the
more profitable the investment.
IRR calculation: As stated earlier, the IRR is calculated by setting the NPV of an
investment to zero and solving for the IRR. In practice, this can be tedious, time
consuming, and difficult if done by hand. Thus it is suggested to always use the IRR
function in Excel for IRR calculations; the IAT utilizes this function.